UPDATE: According to Matt Barnes, Chris Paul told his LA Clippers teammates that he plans to suit up in Game 3 Friday night against the Houston Rockets.
Paul had sat out the first two games of the Western Conference semifinal series with a strained left hamstring.
Matt Barnes on Chris Paul: "He said he's playing tonight. You just hope that he's ready."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 8, 2015
Matt Barnes: “I told him tonight, I expect the CP that I’m going to see at 50 at the YMCA,. Like an older Mark Jackson out there."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 8, 2015
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The LA Clippers could once again go into battle without All-Star point guard Chris Paul—his left hamstring remains troublesome, and there’s no telling if he’ll suit up Friday night for Game 3 against the visiting Houston Rockets.
Paul has sat out the first two games and watched his Clips earn a split to start the Western Conference semifinals.
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers told the media Thursday that CP3 went through his first on-court workout after previously having been limited to pool exercises.
Per the LA Times:
“My guess is it’s going to come down to the eye and a feel test, the eye test by us and our trainer and then how he feels,” Rivers said during a conference call with reporters. “I think with hamstrings, there really is no gauge, so I think that’s what we’re going to look for.”
Hamstrings can be tricky, as the Clippers are discovering while assessing Paul’s availability on what seems like a minute-to-minute basis. If he returned Friday, Paul will have had five full days off since he sustained the injury in the first half of Game 7 in the first round against the San Antonio Spurs.
Rivers said Paul had groused about the Clippers having to play every other day against the Rockets as opposed to other teams who are enjoying as many as three days between games in their playoff series. […] “It would have benefited him,” Rivers said of the extra rest. “I told him, ‘Listen, you’re right, but it is what it is and we just have to deal with it.'”
